The High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is one of England’s Finest Landscapes, protected Walk Facts Crawley Down Village for its historic character of; rolling hills draped with small Distance: 6 km/3.7 miles irregular fi elds; abundant woods and hedges; scattered C of E School farmsteads; and sunken lanes. It covers parts of 4 counties: Time: 1h30 (depending on conditions and numbers East Sussex, West Sussex, Kent and Surrey and has an area and excluding stops) of 1,457 square kilometres (570 square miles). Description: A mixture of surfaced and unsurfaced High Weald Welly Walk paths through woods and farmland, with one main is a primary school programme High Weald Heroes road to be aware of. Terrain is gentle, although there a that encourages children to do the following actions. couple of steeper sections. The iron industry was once Crawley Down Explore the local countryside around your prevalent in this area and there are several reminders school - there’s nowhere else quite of this en-route. like it. Take Care of your local environment as you walk. Remember to follow the Countryside Code. For more information, visit www.countrysideaccess. RISK ASSESSMENT - Points to consider Enjoy ! yourself and have fun outdoors whatever the weather. • Please use with an Ordnance Survey Explorer Map. • Wear sturdy footwear or wellingtons. • Check the weather - waterproofs or hats and sun Find out about cream might be needed. the habitats you walk • Taking a drink with you is advisable. through - discover the • Consider adequate staff to student supervision story behind the landscape. To fi nd out ratios as paths are narrow, the group will spread more go to the learning zone on out and there are roads and stiles to cross. www.highweald.org. • Plants such as nettles and brambles can sting and scratch; berries from plants can cause stomach Be proud of your countryside. Tell other people upsets if eaten. about the special landscape around • There are no toilet facilities, so we recommend your school - even better, take them that toilet paper and hand wipes are taken as a on your school’s Welly Walk and precaution. show them! • Everyone must clean their hands before eating. • Remember, a large group of people can be Produced by the High Weald AONB Unit with support from: intimidating, especially to animals. • Footpaths and rights of way are subject to change. The walk should always be checked for new risks before venturing out, especially when planning to take groups of children. Remember to follow the Countryside Code

www.highweald.org Be a High Weald Hero - you can make a difference 1 2 3 4 5 6

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For guidance only, actual conditions may be different from that shown, depending on the weather and time of year Photo guide and route description FP indicates where you will see a West Sussex County Council rights of way fi nger post From the school’s front gate turn left 1 . At the end of Hophurst Drive, cross the road by the war memorial and head down Sandy Lane. After approx 10 metres, turn right down Cuttinglye Lane 2 . At the end of the track, turn left towards the woods FP . Carry on for some distance, sticking to the tarmac road (d(do not veer off towards the trees!) Continue until you reach a large wooden gate, and at this point FP , bear left along the narrow track 3 . Go through the kissing gate. You are now walking with woods on your left and open fi elds to your right. At the end of the track turn right, FP following sign to Furnace Wood. Continue forward and head downhill all the way to Furnace Pond 4 . Now a private fi shing lake, this was once a hammer pond for the water powered forge. Cross the bridge and walk up the hill to the main road. Turn right along the road, which is lined either side with houses. After approximately 400 metres, look out for Jasmine Cottage on your right; just past this go through the metal farm gate 5 FP and follow the grassy track as it bears left. Go through another metal gate (silver) and head across the fi eld. Walk towards black metal farm gate 6 and, once through this, bear slightly left FP . Continue on to cross a stile and meet the main road. Carefully cross this road and turn left - use grass verges as there are no pavements. Continue along the main road, past the greenhouses of Felbridge nurseries (which are on your right). Keep going until you get to ‘Minstrals’ - a white house on the right hand side. Here, turn right down a narrow road 7 - the FP sign is nestled underneath a large conifer tree! Carry straight on to meet a wooded track. 8 FP Keep going, cross the stream and look to your right for a gate in the fence shortly afterwards. 9 Go through this gate and into the fi eld, following the FP sign. Walk through the fi eld uphill, keeping the fence on your left and the woods on your right. Go over the stile FP and follow footpathpa straight on. The footpath is fenced on either side of you. At the end of the path turn left as the FP directs, follow it to go over another stile 10 and meet a wider track . Turn right here and go straight on. To your left is a wildfl ower grassland – a rare habitat with a wide variety of plants and animals. Keep the meadow on your left and woodland on your right. Continue on, sticking to this main track. At a metal gate keep going, over the farm track 11 and through another metal gate FP . Continue to follow the track as it leads you back to the main road. At the main road, turn left and walk down Hophurst Lane which leads you back into Crawley Down Village. Again, take care to stay close to the road edge, walking on grass verges where possible. Once you have passed the sign to Crawley Down Village 12 , look to turn left down Burleigh Way. Now take the fi rst right down Hophurst Drive. Continue straight on until you are back at the school, which will be on your left!

Look out for... Key 7 walk route 4 Furnace Wood 5 Felbridge Road road 6 Furnace Pond The Felbridge Nurseries8 9 watercourse 3 Cuttinglye Wood 1 numbered views Wildfl ower grassland suggested activity Greenfi eld point Shaw 10 11 Parkfi elds Farm

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Hophurst Lane

This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Offi ce. ©Crown Copyright .Unauthorised reproduction material with the permission of Ordnance Survey infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings.West Sussex CC- XXXXXXXX,2010 on behalf of the controller of Her Majesty’s 2 1 Stationery Offi ce. ©Crown Copyright .Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may Ancient woods School lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. West Sussex County Council 100018485, 2010. Scattered Farmsteads The High Weald Iron Industry Ancient Woodland The High Weald has many isolated farmsteads, hamlets For two periods - in the fi rst two centuries of the Roman Trees and woodland cover over one third of the and dwellings dotted across the countryside. This occupation, and during Tudor and early-Stuart times - the High Weald and are a key landscape feature. scattered settlement pattern means the High Weald is Weald was the main iron-producing region in Britain. the most populated protected landscape in the UK. The woods of the High Weald were relatively slow to be It is hard to picture the former iron industry in today’s cleared because they were a valuable resource: providing The traditional building materials and styles of the High countryside of small fi elds, woodlands and steep, narrow, timber for building, fuel for heating and charcoal for iron Weald are an essential part of the landscape’s distinctive gill valleys, but in this landscape exist all the necessary raw smelting, as well as animal feed - acorns and beech mast character. The building materials have come, in fact, from that materials that allowed iron to be smelted for over 2,000 years. for pigs. Even when agricultural clearance did begin in the very landscape – so it is hardly surprising that they blend in High Weald, much woodland was retained and continued to so well. Links with the area’s wooded past are evident in the provide valuable resources, number of timber-framed and weather-boarded buildings, particulary for the iron whilst the widespread use of sandstone, bricks and tiles industry. is testimony to the High Weald’s underlying geology of Today, 70% of the High sandstone and clay. The building materials have led to a Weald’s woodland is classed particularly rich architectural heritage of distinctive farm as ancient - having existed buildings – for example hipped and half-hipped barns. continuously since at least 1600AD. They have been maintained for centuries The Wealden geology of sands and clays yielded the iron by skilled workers using a ore, as well as the stone and brick to build the furnaces; rotational coppice system. the coppiced woodland provided charcoal for fuel; and the numerous small streams and valleys ensured water power for Coppicing is the name for the bellows and hammers of the forges and furnaces. when trees are cut down low to the ground in such a way that the stems grow back afterwards. The trees are cut once every 10 -15 years. The harvested wood is used to make products such as fencing Look out for evidence of the iron industry on your walk stakes, charcoal, hurdles and trugs. When the trees are - how many house names include furnace or forge? coppiced, the light can reach right down to the ground as the branches and leaves are no longer shading the fl oor. This means lots of wild plants can grow including bluebells, wood A Medieval Landscape Charcoal was traditionally produced by burning wood on anemones and wild garlic. These plants can attract insects to By the 14th century, the High Weald was settled and looked a circular levelled hearth, or pit, in a cleared area of the feed on the nectar and birds and small mammals to eat the much the same as it does today. The landscape of the High woodland. The wood was assembled to form a domed kiln fruits and seeds. Often the rarer species are now only found in Weald is essentially medieval: this can be said of few other which was covered with turves to prevent air entering or working coppice. places in the country. smoke escaping.The men who made the charcoal were called colliers and during a charcoal burn they would live in the Woodlands have been managed in this way for woods, in temporary shelters, to tend the kiln. hundreds of years and it is important for the plants and the With their heavy clay soils and steep slopes, many High Weald wildlife that we continue to manage them in this way. Buying fi elds have never been ploughed up to grow crops and have local wood products helps to ensure that these woodlands are traditionally been used for rearing cattle and sheep. So, where are the remains of iron production? Building stone was too valuable in the Weald to be left managed in a way that supports a wide variety of wildlife. Compared to many areas of Britain, the High Weald still has unused, so the works were dismantled, a relatively large number of ancient, undisturbed, wildfl ower- and the woods grew back over the former The Story of the High Weald’s Fields rich hay meadows and pastures. These ‘unimproved’ sites. Only place names, the remains of grasslands are some of our most important habitats for charcoal hearths or pits in the woods, One of the distinctive landscape features of the High Weald conservation. fl attened circular areas with blackened soil is its pattern of small, irregular fi elds. After the Anglo- beneath the leaf litter, the telltale waste, Saxon period, settlers began moving into the High Weald in called slag from the smelting process, and increasing numbers. These early farmers began clearing the some hammer and furnace ponds are left surrounding woods and scrub to make fi elds for crops and to remind us of this once great Wealden livestock. These clearances were done in an unplanned way industry. by the individual farmers. This is why the High Weald’s fi elds are relatively Created from text by Jeremy Hodgkinson,Wealden Iron Research Group small and irregular in shape.

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